June - Lake Clark | July - Nome | July - Cordova
Previous Years' Fishing Reports: 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996
Awesome Argentina, 2010
Pudge Kleinkauf
The rivers of Argentina welcomed us back this year with higher water than we’d experienced in 2009. But, that was just to test our mettle and challenge our fly fishing skills. After a 10-year high water year, the heavy flows were still receding when we arrived. “Not as much dry-fly fishing as last year”, Gus and the other guides old us, and they were right. “Just wait,” they said, “Even though there might not be as many fish, the fish you catch will be larger.” Right again!!
Luckily, we’d been able to add several additional days to the week we had planned because of cancellations during the week before our scheduled time, and we took full advantage of it. Martin Carranza, the owner of Chime Lodge and Andes Outfitters was able to be at the lodge at the same time we were, and we had a ball fishing with him.
Our first day everyone was pretty jet-lagged, so they made a fairly short wading day of it on the lovely Chimeuin right in front of the lodge. I, however, was tucked in bed with bronchitis and a bad cold. But, they told me all about it during one of Pato’s special dinners that night, so I wasn’t too disappointed. .
I mustered enough energy to get rigged up the next day when we waded and fished the wonderful Malleo River, not too far from the town of Junin de los Andes. The fish were definitely larger there, but the catching was predominantly on large streamers. We looked frantically for the little chartreuse worms falling off of the willow trees that had made our 2009 trip so much fun, but, alas, they were nowhere to be found. The temperature was just too cool for them to be hatching. So, instead of dropping them off the bend of the hook of a large dry fly, we substituted bead-head pheasant tails, which seemed to work just fine! The wind came up late that afternoon, however, and toward the end of the afternoon, Gus and I found ourselves nearly knocked into the water by gusts as we were landing a nice bow on a black, rubber-leg fly.
All but one of the other days we set-up the rafts so we could drift the Alumine River and the Collon Cura (pronounced cojon cura) Rivers. The lower Alumine is a river we fished last year that everyone loved because there seemed to be rainbow under ever bush. But, this year it was rainbows holding along current seams not too far from the banks. Julie and I caught six fish between us in one pool, all on the pheasant tail! That night over wine & dinner, Sandy reported her first brown of the trip on one of the large, ugly dry flies that we were using as an indicator for our nymphs. These are one of her favorite fish and she was delighted. Lesley had also connected big-time that same day, but most of her fish were rainbows. Julie managed once again to be the brown-trout queen of the trip. It seemed like every day she had at least one big brown to report, mostly all on dry flies, surprisingly.
Another day Lesley and Gus and I sat frustrated in the raft at a secluded pool with fish rising all around us, but without a fly that they would take consistently. Gus said that the fish were after spinners, but we just didn’t have anything small enough. A tiny parachute Adams took a couple of fish and so did a very small caddis emerger, but we obviously didn’t have the correct match. We moved on to more productive water where pheasant tails were really producing.
We relied heavily on large rubber-legged streamers of one sort or the other, but one day I set up a two-nymph rig and proceeded to catch fish with great success. A dark brown stonefly nymph with two black bead-heads, paired with a green brassie on the dropper had the fish going nuts when the bite was on for a couple of hours in mid-afternoon.
Absolutely perfect weather and glassy calm water enabled us to fish Lake Tromen in Lanin National Park this year within sight of the volcano. Although the wind came up in the afternoon it didn’t seem to affect the fishing much. It was just difficult for the guides to row against. We’d all been looking forward to the brook trout that the lake is reported to have, and I’m delighted to say that we all caught at least one! They were the fat, spotted beauties we’d heard so much about. It was the rainbows, though, that really put on a show that day. Julie alone caught five bows over 20-inches in the afternoon alone.
We also got to fish the lower Chimeuin, which we hadn’t had time for last year, and that was quite an adventure. The first few miles of the river are very narrow and very, very brushy and pose a real challenge for the guides and the rafts. Rainbows tucked themselves into the fast-flowing water around every corner, but we often weren’t fast enough to set the hook as the raft sped along. It seemed like a roller-coaster ride to me. Sandy was the top fish-catcher that day. She just kept rolling out a large Chernobyl ant with a dropper and picking up fish after fish.
I ended up in bed sick for another couple of days during the trip, and was lucky enough to miss the one rainy day we had. The others braved the weather like troopers and caught a lot of fish. We had a fire in the fireplace, wine ready to pour and appetizers waiting for them when they arrived back at the lodge. We cozied-up on the comfortable couches for the day’s fish report and photos and then moved right on to a roasted chicken dinner that was some of the most delicious I think I’ve ever had. Pato spoiled us even worse this year. Her unique lunches of her special quiche, pasta salads, special little pastries and the ever-present hard-boiled egg (which I gave to Gus every day), were something we all looked forward to. We ate like queens under the spreading branches of one of the huge willows where the guides picked a perfect spot beside the river every day.
We also enjoyed the improvements in the lodge (in its second year of business). The gorgeous new decks were completed around the entire outside of the lodge, and we could sip our wine or drink our morning coffee on deck chairs overlooking the river. New storage for the rafts and equipment made our daily forays to the river much more convenient, and the wind turbines generated electricity for us (except for a brief spell when the wind died and it the men working on the new staff cabin inadvertently drained the storage batteries). Then all enjoyed the candlelight dinner.
We also got to see the guanacos several tunes this year as well as the flamingos, the flocks of parrots, the condors flying high overhead, and the wild pigs in the grasses beside the river. One morning we all trekked into delightful San Martin de los Andes for a little shopping and lunch before heading back to fishing in the afternoon.
In my 2009 trip report I said, “The guides were great! They put us on fish, they entertained us, they picked perfect, shady spots each day for lunch, they poured the wine, they told us fish stories, and they helped make sure we caught many, many fish.” Well, that goes double for this year. Another toast to them!!!!
Just like last year, there is simply too much to report to put it all in one short story like this one. Sooooo, why not go along next year and experience it all for yourself??
THE DATES WILL BE JANUARY 8-15, 2011, AND FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF MONTHS THE COST WILL BE THE SAME AS 2010, JUST $3,850 FOR 6 ½ DAYS OF FISHING, LODGING, MEALS, ALL THE RAFTS AND GUIDED, AND TRANSPORT FROM THE CITY OF BARILOUCHE. As I write this, we’re already a third full, so don’t wait!!!!
Pudge
Mexico Madness, 2010
WOW, the size of some of the fish we caught in Mexico this year was amazing! No, they weren’t marlin or sailfish, they were rooster fish and jack cravalle, two great species of hard-fighting saltwater fish.
Our trip started off with a day on the cruiser with our regular guide, Lance, along to lend his expertise on our flies, help us land our fish, and just provide us with an all-around super day. As we trolled along near some of the small, beautiful coves along the sandy, rocky beaches of the azure Sea of Cortez, our captain suddenly saw schools of fish crashing on bait balls just a few feet off the bank. Needless to say, we headed right over there. The captain’s and Lances practiced eyes identified the fish as roosters and jack cravalle, both prized targets for our flies.
What a blast we had cruising right through the bait fish with our clouser minnows and Lefty’s deceivers at the ready. Soon we noticed that some of the fish would follow and even bump the fly, but not always take. So, Lance had us switch to various forms of poppers. The fish reacted just as we’d hoped, and the party really heated up. Finally one of the truly big boys appeared and headed for a fly being “popped” along just as fast as it could go. The take was absolutely volcanic! Water sprayed everywhere as he turned and ran, spooling line off the Ross big-game #6 reel at an incredible pace while also putting a major bend in the 12-wt rod at the same time.
The frenzy of bait balls was attracting fish all around us while the big rooster, with his awesome comb splayed-out just at the surface of the water took line at an unbelievable rate. Five times he came to the boat only to take off again before Lance could tail him. What a specimen!
With a couple of pictures and a very careful release, we sent him back to his buddies, and continued fishing. The next huge fish turned out to be a very chubby and very strong and resolute jack cravalle. Round and round the boat he ran as Penny kept her cool and dipped her rod in the water when he went under the boat, and palmed her reel just a little to keep him under control just when it seemed that he was taking off for the horizon.
Strong, steady pulls characterized a fight that went on and on as we watched and cheered. It was a real demonstration of determined woman against determined fish. The woman won and proudly displayed her beefy prize for us all to admire, before he, too, was safely returned to the water.
Conditions were actually pretty tough this year because there was no small, sardinia bait around. Now, don’t get the idea that we use bait on the end of a fly rod. Ours are strictly fly fishing trips. Nope, the bait is used to tease the fish up near the surface and to help keep the fish around the boat once we locate them. When we switched to the pangas, the available bait was just too long a ride away for us to access it easily. We did manage to buy some mackerel “big bait”, and trolled one of them along with no hook in it to help us fool the fish.
Most years we manage to park ourselves right in the middle of a huge school of skipjack tuna and/or white bonito. This year we had some of both. Sandy not only caught several of each, but also turned out to be the only one of the bunch who landed a nice sierra mackrel that became the exceptional ceviche that the hotel creates for us to compliment our margaritas on the deck before dinner. Lady fish were on her and Penny’s species list as well. Sierra are a prized eating fish, and we were hoping to catch several to have for dinner, but every time I got one on it managed to cut my line with its jagged teeth (in spite of a 30 lb test bite tippet).
The definite species queen this year was Karen with eight different species altogether during the two days we spent on the pangas. Two large, skipjack tuna started her off one day when everyone else was still warming up. Then, later in the afternoon as other boats were pursuing more rooster fish, she proceeded to get one different species after another as we cruised over a huge, deep rock formation that went on for miles. Her 350 wt Teeny sink-tip line and small clouser minows proved to be the perfect ammunition for this spot. 
She caught several rare zebra perch and then moved on to needle fish, coronet fish, a Panama graysby, a spotted cabrilla-or five or six, a Mexican bonito or two, and then topped it all off with a very unique, large orangeside trigger fish that amazed even our captain. There was no way I could have named them all had I not had my trusty copy of the Fishes of the Pacific Coast in my pack.
Sorry you missed out?? Want to go along next April??? Then, e-mail me now and reserve your spot. (Dates will be in the April 5-20 time frame again.) A $200 non-refundable deposit holds your space! Join us!
Tubing Tales, 2010
The weather was a bit iffy, and the wind was blowing as we headed out for the first day of tubing this year. Nevertheless, it was warm and the fish were willing, so, what more could we ask?
As is typical of spring tubing, the fish are in the shallows absolutely reveling as they enjoy their release from the ice-bound water. Our first few stops, at locations that usually hold quite a few fish, proved to be disappointing, so we moved on. A fish here and a fish there hit the flies as we went exploring. When we finally found them, though, one of the gals managed to hook and land a dozen fish from a small area along a snag-filled section up close to the bank. One of them was so large, we couldn’t get him in the landing net. She named “Bruno.”
She had gone float tubing briefly once before but still had never caught a fish on a fly, she told me as we geared-up. She said that she would be ecstatic if she caught even one fish. Suddenly she found herself morphing into a fishing machine. Her husband wasn’t doing badly either. He landed a gorgeous 22-inch fish, which was the first of several more.
Others that fished the next day at a different lake also discovered how great sight-fishing to big fish can be. These were fish that mimic spawning, even though their eggs can’t hatch because they are not laid in oxygen-rich moving water. Even so, the fish are very visible as well as very intent on each other. Besides that, they are not actively feeding. Enticing them to take the fly meant diverting their attention from the opposite sex. Not an easy task.
Fish that take the fly in the spring often do so quite softly, and that compounds the problems. Setting the hook becomes trickier when you don’t feel the take. “Watch your line,” I told them. “It will often just quiver a bit when a fish bites.” Soon their catch rate improve, but then we had to master the techniques of playing and landing fish. Now my advice was, “when you have a fish on, keep paddling.” Failure to keep the fish tight resulted in some brief but exciting hook-ups.
The wildlife was also out in force as it usually is in the spring. A pair of loons courted and fed practically right beside us and also attempted to engage us in conversation. They are an absolute delight to watch with their regal black heads and arresting red eyes. Soon there would be chicks to watch as well.
One day we looked skyward as we heard some familiar honking, and discovered four spectacularly beautiful trumpeter swans flying low over head. Their phenomenal wing-span never fails to amaze me. As they made a couple of passes over the lake we thought for a few minutes that they were going to land and take a rest break on the lake with us, but they proceeded on to other locations. Several species of ducks and the local eagle also made an appearance, as did a very pregnant moose that came down to the water to drink right in front of us.
The last day’s fishing saw lots of very stubborn fish. It is absolutely unnerving to be able to see them, quite close up, and not be able to get them to take the fly. Several changes of patterns did no good. By then, they had probably already seen and disregarded all of the bead-head lake leeches, small streamers and nymphs that usually produce takes.
We managed several fish on but not landed until the very end of the afternoon. Then, as we were paddling back to our put-in spot, we stopped at a location that holds fish some years. This was one of the years. There weren’t a lot of fish, but there was one very willing buck that took the fly and absolutely took off. After seven acrobatic jumps, he was still going strong. I had to make three attempts before being able to get him in the net. He was real prize. Coppery-red gill plates and a decidedly hooked snout plus a 23-inch length established him as the fish of the week.
Spring tubing is always the way we kick-off our summer fishing season. It’s so good to get out on the water. Come join us next time! Pudge
Lake Clark 2010
Day one, we headed out from Anchorage through the legendary Lake Clark Pass to Lake Clark National Park and the lodge. Overcast and rain made it difficult to see many of the hanging glaciers that decorate the flanks of the steep mountains in the pass. It was still an awesome experience.
As soon as we got our waders on and had a quick lunch we headed over to the Tanalian river to fish for Arctic grayling. On her first cast, Leigh caught a 16-inch grayling on a dry fly. Ginger quickly followed with a similar sized fish on a nymph. After that, several more followed as we managed to find exactly the right drift for the nymphs. The water was fairly low, so the main concentration of fish had moved toward the far bank where the water was deeper. Everybody went back to the lodge with tales of beautiful grayling to tell at dinner.
On our second day, we headed out onto Lake Clark to fish for the lunker pike that inhabit a back bay about a 15 minute boat drive from the lodge. Boy, had the fish been waiting for us! In just a few warm-up casts, Ginger had the first fish on. It managed to spit out the hook before she could land it, but her second fish made up for it. Much bigger than the first, she beached him and held him in all his toothy splendor for pictures.
Leigh and Carolyn followed quickly with yellow-spotted fish of their own. Large, slippery trophies, they put up a great fight before being brought to the bank. It wasn’t long after that before Leigh hooked a fish that put all the others to shame. The first time it jumped it displayed a huge belly and head. It was enough to give us a small idea of how big it really was. The fight was protracted, but she finally pulled him to the edge of the water where Jeff, our boat captain, managed to grab him for pictures. Whew, what a monster!
We fished awhile at the mouth of the Kijik River on the way home for grayling. Not having much luck in the spot we started out in, we finally took the boat over to the other side of the river and began t pursue the rising fish we had seen from across the river. As we landed, a pair of seagulls attacked us from above. Suddenly we could see why as four chicks scrambled from a nest at the tip of the gravel island we were on. We moved out onto the river, and the chicks went in the other direction, so for awhile, all was well. When we headed back to the boat after landing several nice grayling, however, the parent gulls were back in the air again. We could see three of the babies swimming around in a nearby back eddy, but the fourth one turned out to be right in the gravel behind us. It took some maneuvering before we were able to hop in the boat and take off to relieve the parent birds’ stress.
The next day we did a 2 ½ mile hike up to the famous Tanalian Falls to fish for grayling. It was a cool, overcast day, which made for very pleasant hiking conditions. Although they were not in bright sunlight, the mountains and the wildflowers were on display for us. When we got to the plunge pool beneath the falls, we could see that the fish were too. Due to heavy rain the previous night, the water pouring over the fall was absolutely astounding.
Nevertheless, the fish were stacked up where they always are in the deeper, quieter water right next to the maelstrom of waves and foam created by the falls. What a great time we had! Fish after fish took the flies, no matter whether they were nymphs or dries or small streamers. They had doubles with fish on so many times I lost count. There were even six triples, where all three of them had fish on at the same time.. After a slow hike back to the lodge for another of its scrumptious dinners, we got ready for our fly-out day before heading for bed.
We flew out over Lake Iliamna to the Kvichak river the next morning to fish for sockeye salmon. Glen Alsworth Jr. the lodge owner, knew right were the fish would be and, after a smooth as silk landing on the river, he took us right to them. Once again, Leigh had the first fish on her very first cast. After her experience with the big pike, she knew just what to do with an 8 lb sockeye and had him on the beach in no time. The others weren’t far behind, either. Carolyn hooked up over a dozen fish after she had landed the two that she kept for the freezer. Ginger did the same.
After their arms were tired fighting sockeye, we piled back in the plane and headed to a lovely near-by lake for some afternoon char and grayling fishing. Sampling two small creeks and catching both grayling and the char that Leigh especially had wanted to see, an encroaching storm forced us to take off and head back to the lodge.
The last day provided some wonderful dry-fly fishing for grayling back on the Tanalian where we fished until we absolutely had to be back at the lodge for last minute packing and catching our flight back to Anchorage.
Want to go along next July? Just drop us an e-mail and we’ll save a spot for you on this wonderful trip. Pudge
Notorious Nome 2010
Our flight was right on time and our shuttle took us for the 75 mile ride along the spectacularly scenic road to Council where Tom met us on the river for the ride to the camp. Along the way we had seen musk ox, fox, and lots of fat ground squirrels.
BJ was waiting for us at the camp with lunch already on the table. We were fed, wadered, and out the door before you could blink an eye. We knew that the big grayling were just waiting for us in the champagne-clear water right below the lodge
The first afternoon was filled with 18-inch+ grayling one after the other on Chernobyl Ants with a white or yellow tuft of yarn on the top for visibility or parachute Adams and elk hair caddis dry flies. You certainly don’t need a strike indicator with these fish. Just show them the fly.
The dry flies require a true dead drift, however, so we spent a little time practicing the “stop high and let the fly flutter to the surface” cast.
After a great afternoon filled with fish, and a wonderful chicken dinner we hit the sack early because the alarm had rung at 3:30 a.m. that morning. We were going to be ready for an early morning the next day.
We tackled a different area of the river the next day, and the fish were so cooperative we never moved to a different section all day long. Right off a gravel drop-off, with pink salmon spawning right above, the grayling were lined up with their dark gray shapes clearly visible where the water deepened.
Once again the ants did their job, but so did small muddler minnows and woolly bugggers. We broke for lunch, cooking hot-dogs over the fire that our boat man, Hunter, had built for us with his dog keeping close watch for any scraps. Too bad for him, there weren’t any. We also cooked some marshmallows and made s’mores just for fun.
After lunch we gave Czech nymphing a try in the faster runs because everyone wanted to give the two-fly rig a try. As I suspected, they absolutely loved it!! The opportunity to catch two fish on two nymphs is usually too enticing to make people turn it down. I showed them how to rig-up, and we talked about how to make a dropper off of a blood knot and they went to work. Very soon, they became aware of just how many fish they had probably been missing with their conventional one-fly rig. One of the gals managed a double hook-up six times during the afternoon! Others had almost as many. The water was low so we didn’t have as many good spots to try as we usually do, but they certainly made the most of what they had. .(See my Czech Nymphing article in the August issue of Fish Alaska Magazine!)
The next day we headed out early in the morning for some pike fishing. Everyone was looking forward to this exciting change of pace, and did their efforts ever pay off! The little bay where Tom usually goes for pike was really producing for us. We could see pike of all sizes lurking in the weeds almost everywhere we looked. It wasn’t long until we had the first fish of the morning. A mid-sized, yellow & brown spotted prehistoric mouth tracked the fly as it moved and grabbed it with a spectacular lunge. We released him and many others before the fish of the day made an appearance.
We’d seen this large guy in the weeds, but he had initially ignored our flies. Then, Julie got just the right angle on him and he attacked. He was so large that Neither Tom nor I could believe it. We’d fished this bay before and never seen a fish this large & beefy.
It was seven or eight runs later before the fish began to tire, and eventually he came to the boat. Julie couldn’t even pick him up so Tom finally just laid him across her arms. She knew how slimy he was, and how much he would make her rain coat stink, but she held him tightly anyway. It made for a great picture.
In the afternoon we headed for two of the area where we usually find Dolly Varden char, but, on that score were disappointed. We neither saw nor hooked a char. They just weren’t there. To make up for it we caught gorgeous grayling after gorgeous grayling and never got tired of saying to each other, “come quick and look at this one.”
After a great moose stew that evening, we hit the sack with a plan to head out the next day to catch pink salmon and chum salmon. The pinks were there like gangbusters, and their arms got tired playing and releasing them. The chums weren’t quite so cooperative, and the one that Margaret will remember is the one that ran with her fly “clear across the river.”
It’s always hard to leave this great river and these great fish, but that time always comes. As we headed back to Council to meet our shuttle, we vowed to fish those spectacular grayling again. Come on and see them for yourself next year.
Pudge
Orca Lodge Fly Fishing School, 2010
All of us piled on the Alaska Airlines jet for the short trip to Cordova on the first afternoon of the school. The anticipation was in the air, and everyone was almost too excited to eat the peanuts! The lodge van picked us up right on time and we settled in our rooms well in time for dinner. The school started with a short lesson that evening on fly rods and reels and what we would be fishing for the next four days. Everyone got their gear for the school and headed off to bed.
The next day our usual first-day location just didn’t have any fish, so we ventured a little farther into beautiful Prince William Sound to another small creek that poured right into tidewater and had a large beach for the first casting lesson. They quickly put their new found skills to work on the pink salmon that were entering the creek. In spite of that, the first fish of the trip were two lovely cutthroat trout that Jessica caught, landed, and released as though she had been doing it all her life. Soon the pinks followed, and everyone got a chance to practice setting the hook, playing, and landing a 5 or 6-pound fish. After a quick lunch we headed over to the wide beach where the boat was anchored and went after the schools of fish coming right up with the tide. Janet & Julie got to boast of having our first fish “double.” It was hard to head back to the lodge, for the afternoon lesson on knot tying and a scrumptious lodge dinner, but we did it.
Our second day we headed to what the lodge jokingly calls “Pudge Bay.” It is a spectacular, small bay, hidden out of site of the regular boat traffic on Prince William Sound, and with a creek full of fish. We anticipated chum salmon, but there were far more pinks. Now, the casts were confident, and the releases picture-perfect. Double hook-ups on pink salmon came time after time and we choreographed a couple of great photos to show them off, especially the ones Nicole & Charlotte caught. Julie highlighted the afternoon with the catch of an approximately 15-pound chum salmon and Jessica caught a male salmon with a huge hump on his back. The sun was shining and the bugs were biting, but even so, the hike back to the anchored boat was enjoyable and full of conversation of new skills and new fishing accomplishments.
The following day was our eagerly anticipated fly-out day with Gayle Ranney, Alaska’s most famous woman bush pilot. We had to take two planes because we were landing on the beach, and Steve Ranney, Gayle’s son and the owner of the lodge was in the other pilot’s seat. In spite of the rain, they took us to a gorgeous, crescent beach with the surf of an incoming tide pounding the beach. They expertly landed the planes on the hard-packed sand. We quickly gathered our gear and headed out to the small creek that we could see just over the sand dunes.
On the beach by the creek we had a lesson in casting a long leader and a dry fly, and they were demonstrating the reach cast in no time. Right in the middle of the lesson, Julie even had a breathtakingly beautiful little 8-inch cutthroat take her Royal Wulff. His golden hue and red and cinnamon spots did his species proud. Soon everyone was hooking into these special fish, whose range in Alaska goes no farther north than Cordova. We loved playing them and seeing them skitter away back into the depths of the tannic water of the creek when we released them. Bear tracks and deer tracks were everywhere and we stayed on high alert the entire day.
Upstream of where we started fishing was a small pool full of fish. Only two people could fish it at a time, so we started a series of half-hour rotations in order for everyone to get a chance to practice their roll casts and side-arm casts by the brushy water. As their casts improved, they began to catch much larger “cutties” than they had in the stream below, and also produced some Dolly Varden char that we had been unable to locate in the other places that we had fished so-far. We hiked back to the beach in time to see the Gayle’s plane approach the beach, set down without a bump, and taxi up to right in front of us.
On the way back to the lodge we took a slight detour to nearby Spenser 
glacier to do a fly-over that everyone had hoped for. Unfortunately, we only got to fly part way up the glacier until the winds became just too strong to safely continue. Still, everyone got a close-up view of something they had never seen before. It had never stopped raining the entire day, and that storm definitely robbed us of our glacier viewing trip.
The last day we were unable to fly again because of the continuing storm, so we made a plan to go to view the spawning sockeye (red) salmon nearby and to fish the incoming tide for pink and chum salmon. The drive into the forest along Eyak Lake was incredible. Old-growth timber spread branches out over the road, and the air smelled like spruce and pine. At the end of Powder Creek Road we came to the glacier-fed stream that hosts a small run of sockeye salmon. They were pairing up and digging the nests for the egg deposits as we watched.
When the tide was right, we headed back to Hartney Bay just near the town of Cordova and hit the incoming tide almost perfectly. It was amazing to see the huge schools of fish darken the water as they moved toward the mouth of the creek. Suddenly they were right in front of us by the hundreds, and the hook-ups began. Seals patrolled the water right in the middle of the fish. Again, the doubles ensued. I forget how many there were!
And, then it was time to head back to the lodge, pack, and get ready for our flight back to Anchorage. Our time was all too short. But, they all left as experienced fly fishers--confident, skilled, and ready to go fly fishing with the right leader, the right fly, and the right techniques. I have a feeling that we will fish together again. I certainly hope so.
If you missed this year’s school, we’ll be doing it again next July. Join us! Pudge
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